Anyone who has had a VdH Colibri for over 1000hrs

Colibri?
Are you joking?
All owners I knew, had a few (guess why).
But has a good Fan community. I was too poor to be among them :-)

I've just bought a Colibri after owning a Condor.

I was initially reluctant as 1) people read all sort of caveats about the Colibri and 2) I really wanted to keep the budget reasonnable.

Point 2 stopped being an issue when after replacing the Condor with lesser carts, I realize the VdH was doing some marvellous things I didn't want to live without, mostly a neutral and extended portrayal of the musical range. All other lesser carts lacked something.

Now I didn't think the Condor was the end-all of cartridges, so I seized an opportunity on a Colibri.

It is worth mentionning that I had it returned to fit my tonearm effective mass before fitting it.

Results? Stunning. Miles ahead of the Condor in my book. It simply does things i've never heard from any other carts I've owned. I've owned turntable combos which were three times the price of what I use now, but none sounded close to what I experience now.

I simply cannot imagine why one would pay $10,000+ on a cart when one can get a Colibri for half the price, sometimes less, quite easily. Another huge plus is VdH's repair and retipping service. You know you will not have to buy your cart again in 3 to 5 years. I NEVER experienced the problems Mike reports above. Maybe i was just lucky. All I can say is that I've always had stellar service from VdH. It is worth mentionning I live in Europe, hence don't have to go through a distributor.

Sound-wise, I experience none of the edginess that one reads about quite often. Crystal-clear, yes. Beautifully extended highs, yes. But upfront or edgy, never. My Colibri (XGP model by the way), if anything, errs on the side of smoothness. A rock lover could be forbidden for wanting a tad more grit.

The Colibri is the first cart that makes me love ALL my LPs, even the ones I had previously thought were bad. It's the kind of cart that brings tears to one's eyes. It's amazingly expressive, beautiful, delicate, deft. Stings like a bee, floats like a butterfly.

I have aligned it with the excellent Mint Protractor (although it made me want to kill myself when I first used it! :), maybe that helped. On my end, no noticeable sibilance. I could only attribute this to an alignement issue or maybe a tonearm matching issue. The Colibri, well set-up, is actually quite forgiving in a stange way: it won't hide any faults but it'll bring so much music out of the groove you'll forget about them. Can't explain it better.

Now as was mentionned by Fremer some time ago, it IS a drum kit's best friend. It does have a fondness for treble, not in that it enhances it or makes it unpleasant (it's actually quite the contrary) but like in real life, it makes it impossible to ignore. The Colibri is so detailed you will hear nuances in cymbals you've never heard before. Before you say "wait that sounds bright to me!", play a violin recording and you'll realize it wonderfully smooth.

Are there better carts out there? It's worth wondering, I can't stand rave reviews like this one. I'm sure one the grass is always greener somewhere else. But I don't even care after hearing what I'm hearing. If there was would I be willing to pay 5 times the price of the Colibri to try and match it? No way.

I'm now just wondering furiously about trying a Platinum version... Must not be tempted...

JB

It's for you if:

- you have the dough
- you're looking for a fantastic neutral sound that'll give you most of the advantages of digital (yes, it has some!) and the unique fluidity of vinyl
- you're serious enough about analogue to get quality ancillary tool (alignment, gauge)

Not for you if:

- you want round, fat and coloured vinyl sound which will set you back to the sound you heard from your parents table. The Colibri is trying to get the sound of the mastertape, not the sound of nostalgia.
- you don't like the slightly idiosyncratic appearance, most plastic body for example being quite roughly hewn as they are extremely difficult to carve evenly.

Many thanks for all your responses!
In the last month I have been playing around with VTA and alignment to try and improve things and it worked wonders :-) Firstly on the SME V arm I have found the Stevenson curve to sound the best of the 3 curves on a Feickert. This is conjunction with dropping the arm at the pivot point. The edginess is gone! To expand: the FAQ on the VdH site had suggested lifting the arm >4mm vs. the cartridge end. This worked on the prev. 3 Colibris, however this one's cantilever is not parallel to the tiny 'pc boards' where the coils are soldered to. This effectively means the assembly has added degrees of VTA dialed in in the level position. Looking at a googled pic of M. Lavigne's white XCP I noticed the same thing, I guess that's why he also ran his lower at the pivot point?
So the bad news is some sibilance is still evident on some records. However I can now play M. Davis Sketches of Spain 200Gr Classic Records, sounded horrible before. Round Midnight Speakers Corner also doesnt break up(as much) when he blows the high notes in the 1st track. So I am making progress every other month by fine tuning, also learning a lot in the process.

Glad you're managing to dial it in.

Even though I'm pretty limited with VTA on my Thorens, my Colibri sounds great. The secret seems to be alignement, and the Mint Protractor is a huge plus. I do have some light sibilance on some records, none at all on others. I think the Colibri is just super sensitive to the material/condition of the groove, etc... But God, this is the most natural-sounding cart I've EVER heard, and the best source I've ever heard, period (CD player, FM tuners, SACD or high-rez). And the great news is that actually, despite how sensitive this cart is, it makes all my records immensely enjoyable. All carts I've used previously seemed to somehow show off lesser pressings, not this one. Actually, some stuff I thought was lesser pressings now sounds fantastic.

I have the same Miles Davis Classic Records 200g, I'll try to dig it up to see how it fares.

Also, did you send the cart back for it 300h free check? It is also very important for tracking to have it match to your tonearm, VdH will do that for you, a bespoke service totally unique in this industry.

In 15 years in hifi, the Colibri is one of the very rare components that I consider an instant masterpiece. It's an altogether different beast, even compared to VdH other offerings, which are already very good. Mike L mentionned somewhere it's like a Formula 1, I do agree to some extent except that the concept might scare a prospective buyer, and I don't think one should be. Sit at the wheel, do a dozen laps slowly to make sure you understand where everything is, then step on the gas... the Colibri will give you something very few, if any, other carts can offer.

JB

I have good news for all who are interested in it. A Dealer in Europe bought a
bundle and tries to sell them for a year now (I saw his ads). Maybe you can get
one (or two) when you are quick....